The owners of a Capitol Hill 1900’s rowhouse with an unfortunate 1980’s rear addition sought a complete renovation that would evoke modernity and the elegance of European urban spaces they had come to love during extensive travels, particularly in Italy and France. Taking advantage of the deep lot, our approach drew inspiration from the clarity of Italian design and the articulation of the French concept of hôtel particulier. In doing so, we created a seamless integration between architecture and site to achieve the owner’s goals. A small gracious forecourt, a play on the entrance garden cour d’honneur, leads to a generous square entrance hall, created through an internal reconfiguration with switchback stair, that allowed for a classic enfilade plan to maximize interior space. The first level gallery leads from the entry hall, past the kitchen – set in the middle of the house to allow for a more spacious living/dining arrangement  – to the salon and the enclosed garden beyond. The kitchen, U-shaped with sleek Snaidero cabinets, a Le Cornu range, and a marble-topped bronze island fashioned from an antique bank counter, speaks to the rowhouse’s play with modernity and French-inspired classicism. This play comes to full fruition in the bright salon of the addition, where the clean lines of the post-and-lintel fireplace surround anchor the interior space, and the three sets of sleek floor-to-ceiling French doors give way to the beautifully designed Oehme, van Sweden courtyard garden. In the garden, linden trees, pea gravel, and a fountain emerging from the stuccoed boundary walls create an urban Parisian parc oasis. Throughout, interior design – executed in close collaboration with French decorator Romain Baty- and spatial play come together to create chic, European urban sophistication.

Photography by Gordon Beall